rolf`s griechenland blog: Greek collateral agreement could be partly made public

Mittwoch, 23. Mai 2012

Greek collateral agreement could be partly made public

Government responds to opposition interpellation

Minister of Finance Jutta Urpilainen (SDP) says that she has asked civil servants of the Ministry of Finance to ascertain if it would be possible for at least parts of the collateral agreement between Finland and Greece to be made public.
      The agreement is currently confidential. Its English language version has been available for Members of Parliament to read under supervision.

Urpilainen said in Parliament on Tuesday that she would have nothing against making it public. She said that the decision to keep it a secret was made by civil servants of the Ministry of Finance “within the frame of their authority, while interpreting Finnish legislation”.
      “The decision was made to protect business secrets of the Greek side”, she said, in reference to Greek banks.
      The collateral agreement applies to the second bailout package granted to Greece.

On Tuesday the government responded to a joint opposition interpellation concerning plans to increase Finnish liability in the euro crisis.
      The interpellation was the fourth this spring, and there was a sense of interpellation and euro crisis fatigue among MPs. Adding to the lack of excitement was the absence of the leaders of both main opposition parties, Timo Soini of the Finns Party and Mari Kiviniemi of the Centre Party, both of whom were travelling.
      On the government side there was little enthusiasm for a fight. Urpilainen had returned from the United States in the morning and suffered from a migraine. She was allowed to speak while sitting down. Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen (Nat. Coalition Party) complained of back cramps.

Urpilainen and Katainen tried to clarify the distinction between Finland’s real liability and its theoretical commitments. Katainen appeared to be annoyed at the way that the Finns Party MPs repeatedly talked about shovelling and pushing money on countries in crisis.
      “I would be careful about using this kind of rhetoric, because many are now thinking that we are shovelling money out of the Finnish budget without remuneration. One billion has been spent on the first Greece package, and after that we have given loan guarantees”, Katainen said.
      He added that it is not true that the Finnish budget would have been cut because of the euro crisis.
      Urpilainen emphasised that not a cent has been given away for free – it has all been loans and guarantees. “Greece has meticulously paid interest on its first loan.”

http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Greek+collateral+agreement+could+be+partly+made+public/1329103904793
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